A computer system may be implemented as a layered device, for example, including a hardware layer, a firmware and operating system layer, and an applications program layer. The hardware layer of the computer system may be referred to as a physical platform. The physical platform may include processors, chipsets, communications channels, memory, boards, and systems.
The computer system may also include a manageability engine, for example, including a microcontroller that is dedicated to allowing the computer system to be managed, e.g., remotely via a remote management console over a communications network. However, provision of a dedicated microcontroller for manageability services may be inappropriate, impractical, or otherwise not scalable in some implementations for reasons including cost, size, power consumption, heat dissipation, limited MIPS (Million Instructions Per Second), etc.